Off Beat Cinema
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Off Beat Cinema is a two-hour hosted movie show that airs on television stations throughout North America late at night and features "the Good, the Bad, the Foreign..." but mostly cult movies like Night of the Living Dead, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and even more art house fare like The Third Man in a format not unlike the Creature Double Feature of the 1970s and 1980s. It originates from WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.
On occasion, a clip show will air featuring episodes of public domain shorts and sitcom episodes (an example of this was a Christmas episode aired in 2007 that featured a Metro Goldwyn Mayer short, a 1963 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, and an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet).
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History
Creation
Off Beat Cinema was created and is written by Paragon Advertising executive James Gillan. It originally started airing in 1993 in the Buffalo/Toronto area on WKBW-TV in Buffalo. On the show's official site, he states, "Off Beat Cinema was created to provide a forum for films that are not regularly shown on television – and in many cases – are not readily available, even on DVD. There is an enormous cache of films out there that an entire generation grew up watching that are otherwise unavailable. We wanted to create a program reminiscent of the hosted late night film shows of the 1960s and 1970s – the kind of show that made you beg your parents to let you stay up late to watch. Where else can you watch Teenagers from Outer Space and a week later watch Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in its original language version?"
The show's producer John DiScuillo says on the official site that "Off Beat Cinema was originally a reaction to the insidious spread of infomercials and the void of late night television. The program really struck a chord with viewers." Off Beat Cinema has its own slate of advertisers, usually targeting alternative crowds. Poster Art, Terrapin Station (a Grateful Dead inspired head shop in Buffalo, named after the album of the same name), and Mighty Taco, among many other area restaurants, are among the show's numerous sponsors.
Award winning writer and independent producer Sarah JM Kolberg is the show's Public Relations Director. She is quoted on the show's website: "The fan mail we get is such a barometer of our viewers’ love for the show. We have our regulars who write all the time – suggesting possible movies and commenting on recent selections – and then there’s all the first time writers. It’s always amazing to me that we’ll receive these glowing letters from viewers after only a few weeks in a new market and even sometimes after we’ve left a market, writing to say how much they miss the show – that’s very rewarding."
Hosts and special guests
Each episode is hosted by Maxwell Truth (comedian "Airborne Eddy" Dobosiewicz), his beatnik buddy Bird (Tony Billoni), the painter, and Zelda (actress Constance McEwen Caldwell) as they discuss the movies they show in an irreverent style with significant amounts of coffee at the Hungry Ear Coffeehouse. Each week they're often joined by guest stars like Emo Philips, Lauren Bacall and Keanu Reeves, and music acts like the Barenaked Ladies, and the Tragically Hip. Interstitial segments are shot in black and white.
Syndication
Off Beat Cinema can now be seen nationwide on most Retro Television Network affiliates, as well as on Tampa, Florida's WTSP-TV and Buffalo's ABC flagship station, WKBW. It was formerly shown on KBWB-WB 20, San Francisco, California (now KOFY-TV), WICU-TV in Erie, Pennsylvania, and KXTX-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX.
